Fantastic Five
by MerchDoyle
Summary: Lots of spoilers if you haven't seen the film. Basically what things may have been like had there been another character. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or the plot of the movie, I do however own Maria.

What I will be doing in this story is basically pulling out the scenes from the movie that is relevant for my story, as well as adding some of my own, so if you've seen the film then you will know what scenes I am on about. If you haven't seen the film, it may be best that you don't read this story as it will spoil the film for you, and you may not know what I'm on about. I don't know whether or not to set this out as one story or two stories, one being entirely based on the movie, and the second story being after the film, so everyone let me know what your opinion.

Anyway, on with the story!

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Chapter 1.

"Dad, with all dues respect, I don't really want to go up to space with you."

Ben Grimm sighed gently as he listened to what his daughter said. "Maria, it would be fun, like a father daughter space mission," he said trying to change her mind.

The dark haired girl smiled, "Seriously, no offence, but I don't really want to follow in your footsteps and be an astronaut. I'm perfectly happy doing what I'm doing, and being who I am," she stated.

Ben chuckled, "And what are you doing?" Although he was sure he knew the answer.

"I'm concentrating on not being an astronaut," it was the answer he had expected. "Besides, I think Reed is crazy to do anything with the 'Doom Tycoon,'" she added sarcastically which made her father laugh even harder.

After his laughter subsided, he tried again to change her mind. "It's a free trip, you don't have to pay for anything. It will be a great thing to put on your CV for you next job interview as a receptionist," although he soon regretted saying that.

Her green eyes dropped a little, "I know you consider what I do as a dead end job, but I enjoy it, so it is not a dead end job to me. I'm happy, I don't earn much, but I do earn a lot more money than Reed does when he's off chasing some silly dream." She paused a little to calm down, knowing her words hurt her father. "I'm sorry, but Dad I'm not a dreamer, I'm a realist. I know I'll never amount to anything, I never will be great. I've accepted that, and I don't want to do anything great, I just want to get though life without landing myself in too much debt and be happy." She knew he just wanted her to get the best she could out of life, "I won't be a receptionist forever, I'm starting my training in a few months. One day I'll be a fully trained psychologist!" she added.

Ben nodded, "I can understand, but please don't let me go up there without you. Please don't let me have to deal with Johnny Storm on my own."

She rolled her eyes, "Storm boy is going? Now I really don't want to go! Sue is great and all, but it's a shame he doesn't take after her manners, or personality!" She saw her father's face fall, and his eyes fill with sadness. "Alright, alright, I'll come" she said reluctantly, before adding strongly "But I want 20 of the profits."

Ben held out his hand, "Deal," she took it and shook it.

'Beats having to stay with Debbie on my own anyway' she thought.

TBC

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A/n. Yeah, I know that Ben may be a little young to have a daughter, but all will be explained in the next chapter.


	2. Old faces

Disclaimer: Same one as the last, I don't own these characters or the plot of the movie, I do however own Maria.

Just a little warning, there's mild references in this chapter, but nothing you won't find outside a PG rating.

Chapter 2.

It was early morning as Maria waited outside the base for her father to come. She made a point of being early anyway, she like the calmness that came with the dawn, especially this one. The sun shone through the rain as it fell in a straight line with no wind to knock it off course. It came down as a blanket, and she watched at each individual drop broke up into hundreds of little ones as they hit the floor. She knew without a doubt that a rainbow would be forming soon on the other side of the base, 'Nature's miracle,' she thought as she continued to watch the sun shine through the rain.

The silence was soon broken by voices, she recognised one as he father's, and the other as the one that belonged to Reed Richards. She waited as they came around the corner, "Honey, why aren't you waiting for me inside? You'll catch hypothermia out here," Ben scolded.

Maria smiled, "I like the rain, besides if I got sick I wouldn't have to go up into space, would I?" she said half smuggishly. "Hi Richards, how are you?" She asked giving him a hug.

"Fine, but I'd be much better when we're in doors and out of this rain," he replied hugging her back, and then lead the way inside.

It was large inside the base, and very white. In fact it reminded her of the place that aliens were dissected behind the fence of Area 51. She looked around her as she followed the two men as they led the way through the base to a back room.

Victor Von Doom greeted the trio at the door of the room, he was on his way out. After greeting the males, he turned to Maria, "Miss Grimm, glad you could make the trip," he smiled, rather obviously forced a smiled.

Maria too forced a smile, "Hey Vernon, what's up?" offering her hand in a cheeky and mock cocky way.

The older man coughed, "It's 'Victor.'" He said throught gritted teeth, ignoring her hand and walking past them, leaving Reed and Ben laughing to themselves.

She saw Sue Storm was waiting for them to come with what looked like uniforms in her arms. As she greeted each person individually she handed out the uniforms. "Thanks," she said the blonde girl as she handed her one. She waited for her father and Reed to leave the room before asking, "Will it look as good on me as it does on you?" Sue had a curvier figure than Maria did.

Sue smiled, "I asked the designers to add a built in booster bra for you," she whispered. Maria smiled; she looked to Sue as an older sister. She'd taken her to buy her prom dress for her high school prom three years previously, and helped her pick out the right bra to go underneath as she didn't have much up top.

"I'll change go into it," she smiled, and quickly hurried out of the room.

Sue shook her head as she wandered why she'd hurried out of the room so quickly, until she felt Johnny's presence by her. "Was the Maria Grimm?" he asked, then whistled.

Sue elbowed her brother, "Don't even think about it, she's Ben's child," she warned.

The young man laughed, "No, she's not, or she wouldn't be so attractive." he added.

"He's been her guardian since she was 10, making her pretty much his child, and he'd pound you if he heard you speaking in such a disrespectful matter about her." she said strongly. She admired Ben for taking in his niece after the death of her parents, and even more so for adopting her.

"Whatever, I can think what I like about her," he paused, "Or is that a crime too?" he asked sarcastically.

"Just be careful with her, she's not like other girls," his older sister warned as he rolled his eyes. Just then the buzzer sounded signally all astronauts to the launch platform.

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The six astronauts climbed into the rocket. "I wish your uniform wasn't so revealing," Ben told Maria silently.

"I'm 21, it's ok to wear clothing like this now," she shrugged, "Besides, Sue's is the same," she told him in hush tones. He knew she was going to say that, Sue was the main female influence in her life, and she looked up to her. When she started wearing make up, she simply replied "Sue wears it," he later found out it was Sue who gave her 'the first make up set', and bought her 'the first bra'. He had hoped that she and Debbie would get along, and Debbie would be like her mother, but for some reason Maria thought the two weren't suited.

As they entered the rocket's main body, Johnny approached her, "You look good in that uniform," he said glancing briefly at her chest.

She smiled, "Thank you, and your uniform makes you look very… different," she glanced at his crotch, "Is your dick really that small?" she smiled before going to her seat.

Each person belted up and waited for blast off.

TBC

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Thanks for reading, review if you want to :)


	3. New horizons

Disclaimer: May as well copy and paste the 'disclaimer', eh? I don't own these characters or the plot of the movie, I do however own Maria.

Thanks to my reviewers, I have to admit I'd never follow in my father's footsteps, I spent the last year doing so. Now I've dropped out of university and am currently doing my own thing for a while :)

Sorry this one has been so long to post, I've been working most of this week, so I'm a little tired when I get home, but please don't be discouraged, I'll try to post more frequent. Hopefully as the story progresses it will become more frequent. Anyway, enough jargon, thanks if you actually read this, one with the story!

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Chapter 3

Maria looked out the window of the shuttle, she had to admit watching all the stars and seeing the moon look so big was a beautiful sight, but she still felt uneasy. There wasn't even anything for her to do, she felt like an empty vessel, she wasn't trained to do anything. Sure she went to university, but she got a degree in psychology, not chemistry. She checked the clock for the umpteenth time, "Three hours to go," she muttered down heartedly.

She wandered why it took so long to do the whole cosmic operation to happen, she couldn't even remember what they were doing, some fantasy Reed had to rid the world of poverty. What that had to do with space was totally beyond her, she was only there for her father anyway. At least that's what she kept telling herself. Subconsciously she knew it was Johnny, as long as Ben didn't realise that she only changed her mind when he mentioned Johnny was going to be there she'd be fine.

Still it was a waste of time, he only spoke to her because she was wearing a booster bra, and now he was off doing something with Reed and Ben. Sue wasn't even around to talk to her, she was off somewhere with Victor.

She let out a deep sigh and sat on the floor with her back against he window, maybe she could catch some sleep or something before it was time to go back to Earth. She closed her eyes and began drifting off, that was when she heard the alarm sound.

She stood up quickly, and ran in the direction she knew her father was in. She got to the entrance of the chamber just as the door was closing and saw that Ben and the rest of the team minus Victor were unconscious on the floor. "DAD!" she screamed running to him. That was when she realised the room had a cloudy atmosphere, and that was the moment she felt coldness sear though her body before darkness also claimed her.

TBC

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A/n. Sorry this was shorter than the other two, but I didn't want to drag it on too much. Hope you guys liked it :)


	4. Cha cha cha changes!

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or the plot of the movie, I do however own Maria. If I did own the rest, I'd be typing this story on a brand spanking new laptop so I can keep this one safe, but I can't afford one. Chapter title is a David Bowie song, so also not mine…

Chapter 4

Maria didn't remember the ship landing, or the emergency services that flooded the shuttle as it came down from orbit. In fact she didn't remember anything before waking up in a bed at the quarantine wing of Victor's hospital centre.

Since then she'd watched very bad television show, gone to see her father and listened to him complain about some trick Johnny played on him involving a mirror, said 'hi' to Sue and Reed, before begging the nurse to let her go outside for a walk. Turned out they were allowed to go out anyway, they didn't pose much of a threat. In fact the doctors and scientists who prodded and probed her hadn't found much wrong with her.

She looked around the grounds of the centre, and pulled her coat tightly around her to block the wind. That was when she realised that something was different. She didn't feel cold, the wind that was blowing in her face, snowy mountains surrounded them, but she didn't feel cold at all.

She walked over to the fountain that was in the middle of the grounds and put her finger to test the temperature of the water. Her finger disappeared. "Arrrrggghhh!" she screamed and pulled her hand away and looked at it, her left index finger had disappeared. She began to feel very sick, then as she stared in horror at the hand she saw that it grew back, only it had a tinge of blue to it. In fact her whole hand had turned blue. She glanced at her right hand, that too had gone blue.

Maria's breath was coming in gasps as she closed her eyes. "You're hallucinating," she told herself. "You have been through a traumatic experience, and you are now seeing things!" She spun around and ran back to the building, before she got to the door she let out another scream. Her reflection in the glass doors of the building was blue, she grabbed her hair and stared at it, it too was beginning to turn blue before her eyes.

She grabbed the door and tugged it open, she had to find her father quickly.

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She ran through the building on the way to where her father's room was. She had no time to react when she saw Johnny standing before her, and wen smack into his back. A burning sensation went through each part of her body where her skin came into contact with Johnny's, and she screamed out in pain.

She looked at her hands, they were burnt, but before Reed and Sue even had time to see if she was all right, the burns had healed themselves. She looked at them, "Yeah, I know. I've gone blue, I need to find my dad!" she said, "It's all too weird, so I've come up with the conclusion that I'm hallucinating." She wasn't in the mood to talk, she just wanted to find Ben.

"We'll talk when we find your father," Reed explained and led the way to his friends room.

Maria didn't even question what was happening when Reed stretched his hand under the door to unlock it from the other side, she was more concerned with the noises of the animal that was in her father's room. She was even more afraid when she saw the hole in the other side of his room.

It was obvious where he was going, to Debbie.

End of chapter


	5. The Fantastic Five

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or the plot of the movie, I do however own Maria – or the X-Men. I also take back what I said in my last disclaimer about my laptop, it sort of went strange after I typed my last chapter, so I really extremely love you Spidey! (My laptop is named after 'Spiderman,' another great comic hero I do not own…weep)

Just want to do a little shout out to some active reviewers:

sd-freek – my very first reviewer! Thank you for all your reviews!

Tricia – Thanks, you're spot on, there will be a little thing going on between Johnny and Maria, but I don't know yet if they will end up together… as for her colour, I was going to make her orange, it would have made better sense as Ben's orange… but water's always associated with blue… so that's why she's blue…

carebears4 - I'm glad I make you laugh, cheers!

ChrisFan13 – Yeah, I'm following the path of the movie to a certain extent, a few minor changes though along the way.

KrazieShadowNinja – thanks for liking it and wishing she was in the movie, but unfortunately she's not in the comics… oh well! Lol

warrior-of-the-shadow – I'm sort of basing Maria and Johnny's relationship on the one I have with this guy. My dad doesn't like him very much either, whether or not the two will get together really depends on what happens with this guy…

Anyone I've forgotten, let me know and I'll try to make it up to you in the next chapters or something… but I really do appreciate each and every review I get :)

Chapter five

They foursome were in a cab on the way to Brooklyn where Ben was thought to be, only it was stuck in traffic. Maria had learnt that the other three as well as her father had been affected in different ways, Reed was now elasticised, Sue could go invisible, and Johnny could engulf himself in flames. She had also learnt why Johnny's back was bare when she smashed into him, although she didn't realise until he commented on the fact that he needed to change before they left, that he was only wearing ski bunny jacket around his middle. If the circumstances were any different, she would have been happy to see him like that, only her happiness was overshadowed by her fathers disappearing act.

Johnny told the cabby that Maria was an artist and had fallen into a vat of blue ink when he questioned her colour. He looked even more confused at the thought of why someone would have a vat of blue ink large enough to harbour the human body, only Maria shot him a look that told him to keep quiet. She would have preferred to give him her excuse, that the night before she'd been to a fancy dress party and dressed as a female Night-crawler, but seeing she had more things to worry about, she wasn't all that bothered.

"What's the hold up?" Sue asked. Without answering Reed stuck his head out the window and stretched his neck to the front of the block. He sprang back and said "Ben."

Ignoring the scared and shocked look on the driver's face the four piled out of the cab and ran to the end of the traffic jam.

There were fires, and debris scattered around. Maria didn't know how she did it, but water shot out of her fingers and put the fires out, Sue went invisible and began helping people, Reed stretched himself and saved a man, Johnny went on fire and helped a child to safety, and Ben stopped a large vehicle from ploughing into a group of other citizens.

When everything clamed down did Maria realise her father wasn't her father anymore. He didn't look like Ben at all, but a big orange block figure. She stared at him, and he stared back at her. She wasn't sure whether or not to be scared of him, but then she saw his eyes. He was still the same inside; his eyes hadn't changed at all. She ran to him and flung her arms around him, he too went to put his arms around her, but she yelped in pain as she was getting crushed, and he loosened his grip.

However it seemed that not everyone could see he still was the same person, the public looked afraid of him, and what was worse, Debbie had come to return her engagement ring, publicly humiliating him by placing it on the ground, as if she knew that he wouldn't be able to pick it up.

Sensing this, Reed bent down and handed it to him as the group of five went into a police tent to discuss what was going on.

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It was all too strange for Maria, all too surreal. People had began calling them the 'Fantastic Five.'

They had given a press conference where Sue and Reed did most of the talking and Johnny cracked most of the jokes. Maria just looked around at the faces of the people who were watching some plagued with intrigue, others fear. She could see they were mainly staring at her and Ben, they were the only two affected physically by it, only they didn't seem that afraid of her. 'Stupid materialists!' she thought bitterly to herself.

Eyes followed them into another cab, and they had a police escort to Reed's place 'The Baxter Building.'

As they entered, there were people outside; they were all staring at Ben. "Say something!" Maria whispered to him

"Like what?" he asked back.

She paused a second, "Anything!"

Ben looked around and settled his gaze of a groups of children, "Don't do drugs!" he ordered them. They nodded straight away, Ben smiled inwardly, know that they would be too afraid to ever try drugs, in case he came and tracked them down. Maria also smiled and took hold of one of his fingers, leading him inside.

Reed had decided that the building was the best place for them to be, so he could monitor everyone's symptoms more deeply. Victor Von Doom even stopped by to try and encourage Sue to go to his place so he could have his doctors monitor her condition, but she politely declined, saying she wanted to stay with Johnny. Maria could tell he was angry, but it was just a coincidence that the lights flickered when he left the building, right?

TBC


	6. Too Hot

Disclaimers: I only own Maria, everything else I sadly don't weep .

Just changed a spelling in this that Tricia pointed out. Thought I should mention, I'm a little dyslexic, and have each chapter proof-read by my sister to check spelling and grammar points. She hadn't noticed it either... thanks Tricia!

Chapter 6

They had staying at the Baxter building for about a week, and were in and out of Reed's laboratory for tests. Reed said it was best that they stay in the building while me monitored their changes, which Maria didn't mind so much as she got to spend a lot of time with Johnny, rather watching TV with him anyway.

So far, Maria found out that she could heal herself, because her skin was 55 liquid. Like when you break the surface of the water it goes back to normal after a while, that's what her skin was like now.

She also discovered she no longer needed to take a bath as she was self-cleaning, and she was also soluble in water, so she wouldn't be able to take a bath even if she needed to. She also couldn't drink anything, and she didn't really need to as she was always hydrated. The only down side was that she couldn't touch Johnny, in fact she couldn't touch anything hot or she'd burn herself. Which she was soon to find out…

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"What you listening to?" Maria heard Johnny's voice over her headphones. He'd just entered the living room and found her lounging on the sofa chilling out listening to music.

"Michael Bolton," she said simply, waiting for him to make a comment about her liking boring people, but the comment never came. "What? You're not going to take the piss out of me?" she asked surprised.

Johnny shook his head, "Nah, he's cool!" he replied simply picking up the remote and changing the TV channels.

Maria shook her head and pulled off the headphones, that was when she noticed popping coming from the hand that wasn't holding the remote. "Is that…?" she began to ask, but the young male knew the question.

"Pop corn?" he finished, "Yeah!" Putting down the remote, he ripped the top of the package open, "You want some?" he offered it to her.

"Sure why not," she went to take some, then "OOOOWWWWW!" she yelped clasping her hand back and rubbing it.

Johnny dropped the popcorn on the floor and rushed to take her hand to look at it, "Let me see," he took her hand in his and examined it, but that made Maria cry out in pain even more and yanking her hand out of his. "What did I do?" he asked, afraid he'd hurt her.

Maria quickly blinked away the tears that had stung her eyes, she looked at he hand and watched as the burns slowly faded. "I should've know the popcorn would be…" she began, then explained, "I can't touch anything hot."

Johnny looked down at his feet, "You mean you can't touch me, don't you?" he asked quietly. Maria nodded her reply. Johnny forced a grin, "Good job we're not dating then, huh?"

Maria forced a little laugh 'How can you be so insensitive!' she wanted to scream at him, blinking away more tears that had formed in her eyes. She dared not let them fall, they'd burn her like hell, but she also didn't want Johnny to see how much his words stung her.

Maria though quickly to change the subject, "Dad's really mad about the shaving foam, I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you!" she warned.

Johnny chuckled, "I got him good!" he boasted, making the young girl smile a little.

It was true, he had got him good, and got him really annoyed that he'd stormed off into the night. Maria had watched him from the window, and was tempted to follow him, but she knew better than to follow Ben Grimm when he obviously wanted to be alone.

"I'm gonna go catch some z's," Maria told Johnny, but the truth was she didn't really want to be in the same room as he was at that moment.

But Johnny didn't hear her, he was engrossed in some motorcycle sport programme on television.

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End of chapter

A/n, sorry this one wasn't very good, but I needed some kind of interaction between the two. Hopefully the next chapter will be better.


	7. Visiting

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or the plot of the movie, I do however own Maria. Thought I'd keep this one simple, and without jargon.

Sorry I haven't updated for a while, my laptop isn't feeling all that good (and I've been unwell too). Sometimes he'll work, and others he won't, his battery is a bit dodgy. A reviewer wandered why Maria couldn't turn off her powers since she wasn't fully exposed to the cloud like Ben was, well I kind of based her a little on Doom, as he wasn't exposed directly to the cloud either, and he can't exactly turn off his power…

Chapter 7

The city was lit with unnatural light that blocked out the stars. The cemetery was quiet as Maria entered. She had a bouquet full of forget me nots, and lay them down on the grave of her parents. 'Mark and Sarah Grimm, Beloved parents,' was etched on the grave stone. Maria crouched and sat down by the side of the grave.

"Hey you two," she spoke quietly. "Sorry I haven't been to see you lately, you'll never believe me if I told you. Lucky you're always looking down on me, huh?" She moved a little into a more comfortable position. "I guess you saw the cosmic cloud, and the changes we all went though." She paused again, her voice was beginning to crack a little, "And I guess you've seen how our make shift family is falling apart. Johnny has gone and given us all daft 'super hero' names. Sue is the Invisible Woman, Reed's Mr. Fantastic, Dad is The Thing, Johnny is The Human Torch. He wanted to call me Water Woman, but I made him change it to Aquatica. Lucky I followed him the games, or I would have been stuck with it", she laughed a little. "I really didn't want to let someone who named their puppy 'Puppy' as a kid to give me my super hero name." She paused and looked around to make sure there was no one around.

She continued when she made sure she was alone, "Johnny and dad had this huge fight, and now he's left the Fantastic Five. Dad's fallen out with Reed because he wants to spend time with Sue and not work on a cure," she paused again. "But do we really need a cure anyway? I can understand why Dad's so upset, but it can't be that too bad a thing. We can help a lot of people, right?" she asked hopefully. "Maybe this is like our calling, this is our life meaning…" She looked down at her tinted blue hands, "Good job blue's my favourite colour, or I'd clash with all my clothing, wouldn't I?" she joked looking at her now grass stained blue trousers.

"Johnny's being cold towards me," she said. "I kinda thought he liked me a little, you know when he took my hand in his when I burnt it. He was so gentle and sweet, to bad he hurt me even more…" she laughed at how tragic the idea was, she was in love with only person in the world she physically couldn't be with. "I guess it would be kinda cool if Reed found a cure, then maybe we'd have a chance," she said then paused. "No, that's not true. I can pretend at the moment that maybe he does like me, but doesn't want to act on it because he knows we can't be together, if I was cured what excuse could I make for him for not wanting to be with me? At least now I can hope…"

She looked around again making sure there was no one around, "Dad would be so mad if he found out, but then again, he was with Debbie despite my many protests… but I was right about her though, she was no good." She smiled, "I heard him on the phone a few nights ago talking to a girl, her name's Alicia. I'm glad he's found someone else, someone who actually likes him for him," she smiled again.

"I still can't work out Doom though, he's gone really possessive over Sue, and power mad. He also hates the idea that we are commercialising on what happened, the wrong way. For once in his life, he's lost, and what he's lost Reed has gained. Fame, lively hood, glory… and Sue." She paused, "I guess you can say what goes around comes around," she grinned. "He's so angry, I think it's a bad idea that Reed's put him in charge of the cosmic cloud machine that's supposed to cure us. He's just too glad, you know?" As she spoke a power surge rippled through the city, it didn't take a scientist to work out what caused the surge.

Maria was on her feet in seconds, "I have to go, I'll be back soon," she promised kissing the headstone twice before running in the direction of the Baxter building.

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End of chapter – I really dislike this chapter, more than the last one, but I really need to move the story onwards… so sorry


	8. Back goes

Disclaimers: Same old, same old. I only Maria… 

Chapter 8

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Maria ran through the building as fast as she could, fearing what she'd find when she reached her destination. Her legs were screaming for to her stop as she ran up every step to the top floor, and with every step she cursed the elevator for not working.

She reached the top and hurled the door open ad screamed. There before her was Ben Grimm, her father, looking every bit back to normal.

He laughed a little, "Not quite the reaction I was hoping," he said weakly.

Maria walked up to him, and touched his face, "You're…" she started. "The machine, it works?" she asked hopefully.

Ben shook his head, "Yeah, it works, but not the way you'd think," he explained.

"He's gone," came a voice from inside the laboratory, a voice that made Maria's heart skip a beat, a voice that belonged to Johnny Storm.

"You're back!" she cried.

He flashed her a cheesy grin, "Yeah, and this proves that people can't cope without me!" he joked, then turned serious, "He's not here, anywhere!"

Maria shook her head, "Who are you talking about?" she asked.

"Reed," Sue answered coming from behind Johnny, "He's taken him," she said fearfully.

"Let me guess, Vermin?" she asked, and the others nodded. "Did he do this to you?" she asked her dad.

"Yeah, but I was a willing participant," he confessed.

Maria nodded, "I can understand, you've suffered more than any of us," she said giving her dad a hug.

He laughed a little, "No, I did it for you," he confessed. "You didn't even want to go up into space in the first place. I figured if I tried the machine and it was safe then you could have your life back. You could drink hot chocolate again, and go out in the rain," he smiled sympathetically.

Maria blinked more tears from her eyes, "Oh dad," she began, "I don't care, about that. And who knows, when everything blows over I can start my training again," she smiled.

"Uhhh, speaking of blowing over… rather, blowing up," it was Johnny pointing at something in the distance.

"What's that?" Sue asked.

There was a light heading towards the quadets, more importantly, it was heading towards Johnny. "Heat-seeker," he muttered. Before thinking Johnny was up on balcony and jumped off it, just as Sue ran to stop him. The three looked down as he fell towards the ground, the heat seeker also changing direction. For a split second, Maria feared he was going to hit the street below before, all of a sudden, he burst into flames and soared upwards into the sky, the heat seek directly on his trail.

"Oh…no…" Sue breathed watching her brother flying away, she looked at Maria with tears of fear in her eyes.

"I'll go after him," Maria said and began running down the fire escape, she knew the only way to stop it was if something else was burning instead, and that meant it was need to be put out.

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End of chapter.

A/n Sorry this is short, I just wanted to post something before Christmas. Hope everyone has a good one! Please don't get into a car with soon who has been drinking, and if you're old enough to drink, don't drive. Always make sure there's a sober person at the wheel. Other than that, have a great time!


	9. Privacy

Disclaimers: I wish I did, but I don't own the F4 characters or the plot of the movie, in fact the only person I own in the story is Maria…

Just a note, I'm referring a little to the novelisation in this one, so it wasn't my idea. Hopefully those of you who have read it will know what I'm referring to. Question, did I spell 'novelisation' correct, because it's coming up wrong on my spell check…?

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Chapter 9

For the second time that night, Maria found herself running. She couldn't see Johnny, but she could follow the trail of smoke he'd left in the sky, that was illuminated by the city lights.

She slowed down as she reached the harbour, and looked around for Johnny, only he was no where in sight. But she knew he'd been there, on the water in front of her was a burning vessel, and several burning bits of floating cargo scattered around it.

Plus, if that hadn't given it away, the excited voices of "Did you see him? It was the Human Torch!" coming from a crowd of people standing a few metres away from her would have.

She ran closer to the direction of the vessel and stopped at the waters' edge, raising her arms up, she concentrated all her energy onto making streams of water shoot from her arms to distinguish the blaze. She would have heard the same excited voices shouting "Look! It's Aquatica!" if she wasn't concentrating so much on putting out the fire, her mind also raced with worry as she constantly looked around her for any signs that Johnny may have re-surfaced.

She could feel herself beginning to weaken as the water streams slowed down, before stopping altogether and she had arms again. She allowed herself to flop down on the ground to get her strength back. Her body wasn't used to running so much and her exerting herself.

As she was concentrating so much on regulating her breathing, she didn't notice the ring of fire forming around her, sectioning her from the crowd of excited people who'd witnessed the fireworks display. Neither did she notice the Johnny's presence as he sat down beside her, until he asked "You ok?"

He scared her so much that she nearly fell into the water, and she would've done had he not grabbed her arm, letting go as soon as he pulled her back.

Maria waited for the pain of his touch to subside before replying, "Yeah," then paused, "Where did you go?" she asked him.

He pointed to the water, "Dropped down there after setting the vessel alight. It was safer watching it explode under the water than above it, it could've missed…" he explained, joking a little.

Maria shook her head, "No," she replied smiling slightly, "I meant after you left the group, and why did you come back?" she asked.

Johnny didn't look at her for a while, she could tell he was thinking of how to put his words. "Let's just say I know how you're dad feels," he replied their eyse meeting. That was when she saw it, something she knew he had but deep down inside of him. Johnny Storm, Mr. Insensitivity, had a soul.

The two were silent for a moment, "We should go find the others," Maria said slowly getting up, and putting out the ring of fire around them, noting mentally how sweet it was for them to have a moment of privacy. But the crowd of people was gone, they'd gotten wind of the commotion that was coming from the city. Also, had the flame barricade not been up they would have noticed that the city lights flickered for the second time that evening. But the flames also flickered, so how would they have been able to tell?. A fight had broken out between the other members of the Fantastic Five, and a man who seemed to be made of metal. The fight scene was their next stop.

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End of chapter

A/N I value all feedback from my reviewers, I know a few have a couple of quieries about Maria, and her powers. Please don't think I am ignoring you, but since this story is almost finished, and I have already planned the sequel, it is a little late for me to change it. More about everything will be expalined in the sequel anyway, I just want to establish the character in this one... Hope evereyone has a great New Year, and take care.


	10. Final Stand

Disclaimers: I am but a poor working class girl, who works her backside off in a supermarket everyday doing every job imaginable (no not checkouts, I'm not that lucky) and getting no thanks for it. If I owned the F4 characters, I wouldn't be working, but I would be laughing, and sleeping in really late, and be a nice customer not mucking up the stock and blaming the worker! Needed to get that rant out there… working is not that bad, it makes me value the time I'm not working more than if I just sat doing nothing all day… heiheihei. Anyway, those were my words of wisdom for one day… I only own Maria, so on with the chapter I think :)

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Chapter 10

By the time the duo arrived, the fight was well away. Victor Von Doom was throwing lightening bolts at Sue and Reed, and the two were running out the firing range.

Maria and Johnny had started throwing bolts of water and flame at him to drag Metal Man's attention away from the other two. It worked, he was now paying attention to Maria, but she was too quick for him. Plus she was petrified of what would happen if she did get electrocuted, would she be killed instantly, or would she be in a tremendous amount of pain for a long time until her body heals itself? She really didn't want to find out.

"IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!" a voice bellowed, Maria looked to wear it was coming from and froze, the voice belonged to her father, there was no doubt about that, and he was back to his orange self.

Maria suddenly felt herself flying, or rather being grabbed, flung into the air and pulled at an angle towards the ground. When she was safely on the ground, it became clear to her what had happened. Reed had stretched his arm around her and pulled her to safety as Doom was about to throw another electricity ball at her, taking advantage of her temporarily dazed state.

"Dad?" she asked looking into his eyes, "Why?"

He smiled slightly, "I can protect you better," he confessed, as she gave him a hug.

"Had bit of a relapse, huh?" Johnny asked him jokingly, causing Ben to glare at him.

The five heroes were all lined up in a straight line, for the first time since their DNA had been changed, the five heroes stood as one. As one they were stronger…

"Sorry to break up this little…" Von Doom was going to say 'reunion,' but Reed didn't let him. He ordered Johnny to go Supernova and run rings around him, and Sue to contain the flames. As an exhausted brother and sister were done with what they were doing, Maria was ordered to 'cool him down,' which she did by blasting water from her arms. As the steam subsided, an extremely rigid Victor Von Doom stood in the centre of the larger crowd that had formed.

"So, is he…like…?" Maria started, then stopped. "Can he…?" she just couldn't ask the question without it sounding stupid, and she had four pairs of eyes on her, as well as everyone else who was wandering what she was trying to ask.

"What you trying to ask baby?" Ben asked, looking strangely at her.

"Is he like, vanquished?" she asked trying to think of another word to use, "Beaten? Like he can't hurt us anymore?" She looked at the others, and then back at Doom. He wasn't moving at all, yet she could still hear him groaning lightly, as if he was trying to speak but couldn't move his lips.

Reed walked up to the 'statue' and prodded it, nothing happened. He grabbed Von Doom by the arm and shook him - still nothing happened. "I don't think he can hurt us anymore…" he said looking at the others. Just then, Victor's people showed up in suits and a wheeler, taking him and strapping him to the back of it.

The five watched as they wheeled him into the back of a truck. They were either on the side somewhere watching the battle and knowing Victor Von Doom wouldn't come out of it on the up, or they had been watching the events unfold on any of the numerous news channels.

The crowd of people, and the television cameras now shifted their attention to the Fantastic Five. "Say something," Ben whispered to Reed.

"Like what?" he whispered back to his friend.

Ben thought for a second, "Say something cool, but you can't say 'don't do drugs, that's mine'…" he joked.

Reed coughed, and stood straighter with his head up high, "Well… I think it is safe to say that we're no scientists anymore, but Superheroes!" The other four laughed, as did the crowd.

"What now?" Sue asked loud enough for the herows to hear.

Johnny grinned, "One word sis, one word…" he paused to gain momentum, but Maria knew what he was going to say, she mouthed 'party' as he said it aloud.

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A/N the next chapter will be the epilogue, and the final thing I will post of this story, like I said in the last chapter, I'm hoping to write the sequel soon, so fingers crossed…:)


	11. Epilogue

Disclaimers: I only own Maria, as it has been stated so many times already, but due to copyright laws, it must be stared again and again…

Well here it is, my sweet little Epilogue…

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Chapter 11 – Epilogue

The room was full of people of all ages, and Maria was finally introduced to Alicia, her dad's new girlfriend. Reed had just declared his love to Sue, and asked her to marry him – she accepted of course. Ben had a girlfriend, and Johnny, after announcing he was now 'Mr. Sensitivity,' had flown up into the sky and made a large burning number five. After he came down he, of course, was greeted by a large group of females, who now had him surrounded.

Maria was left on her own, sitting on a stool by the bar eating peanuts, feeling out of place.

"Can I get you a drink?" a male's voice asked from behind.

She turned around and saw a young man about her age wearing jeans and a T-shirt, yet somehow looking smart. He had deep blue eyes, 'but not as blue as Johnny's' she reminded herself, but a kind face. She mentally shook herself remembering what he'd asked, "Sorry," she smiled slightly, "I don't… rather can't… drink…," she admitted.

"Oh," he looked a little crestfallen. "Can you eat?" he asked his face lightening up.

Maria laughed a little, he was trying hard, "I'm not supposed to accept food from strangers," she teased.

The boy smiled, "My name's Jack," he offered her his hand.

"Maria," she shook his hand back, noting how his touch didn't burn her.

"So… you'll have something to eat?" Jack asked again.

"Sure," she said getting up off the stool.

She glanced over where Johnny was, their eyes met. For a second she swore she saw a flame of jealousy flicker in his eyes, but then he smiled, and gave her a thumbs up. 'Maybe I imagined the jealousy,' she thought to herself, giving him a smile. Then she let Jack lead her though the crowd to find the buffet table, and to see what dry food they had on it.

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The End!

A/N. (Just a note, 'novelization' comes up wring on my spell check too... so I'm baffled...) Well that's it for this story, thank you all so much for reading it, and to my reviewers for reviewing it, I hope you will look out for, and read the sequel.


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